Sounds great but I'm not sure how. Is the proper way to set a bar down during DL, RDLing it at first and then once it clears your knees, letting it fall?

There is a good chance I just don't know how at all b/c my memory of SS & what most ppl say is "just put it down relatively quickly." Which obv isn't an idea approach for me.

Thanks!

It went up easy enough that I should have gotten 2 imo but some of my WIM collapsed b/c I probably was thinking too much about not hitting my knees, keeping my back tight, etc.

On the way down just think - low back tight, hinge at the hips. You can just drop the weight if necessary, but once you figure out how to let it down correctly, you shouldnt need to except for possible emergencies.

As I mentioned to Sippin, think about hinging at the hips all the time in daily life - everything you do. Try to not let your low back flex ever when you are moving any weight if you can help it. That might get you more used to what you need to do when you are moving big weights. I'm not sure if you notice what I do when I'm moving stuff around in my basement, but I basically never let my low back flex when I'm holding any weight.

Yeah, you've mentioned that to be before. It's something I definitely try to do as much as possible (hinging at the hips vs. bending my back when I reach down for anything) or reach out for anything. I'm definitely better than I was but reprogramming something like that is pretty difficult to do since it's something done so frequently and in so many different settings.

Again, I think I get hinging at my hips, but with the heavy weight my back starts rounding probably b/c it's too heavy for my back to keep stable at less of an angle. But, you'd think the back would be under the same load no matter what as long as I'm pulling vertically and putting the bar down vertically. So maybe it's simply that I go too slowly when I hinge or something and my back gets tired but I'm afraid to lower it fast b/c then I don't hinge or my knees go out a bit too much and a smash my knee.

Think about it and practice going down fast during your warmup sets - maybe that will help.

10/22 log

Work out at Cha59's!

SMR, mobility

Bench Press - 1RM WR quest
I don't really remember the exact warmups.
175x1
185xf
180x1 (WR)

Which is exactly what http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html predicts for 160x5 bench (which is my highest 5 rep). So there you go.

barbell rows Pendlay style - first time doing these
100x8
120x5 - Wasn't really getting the bar fully to my chest so when I do these next I think I'll go with ~100lbs.

floor press
I worked up to something like 95+chainz? I don't really remember. Very odd trying it for the first time, was completely unprepared for such a short range of motion.

Ripplebro lying tricep extensions with curl bar
35x8, 65x8x2 - something like this

Goblet squats
25x10

1 leg supported reverse hypers
50x10x3

Offset step ups
15x10, 20x10

Offset RDL
50x10x3

Chins - focusing on using lats
4, 4, 5

1/2 kneeling cable press
45x10

standing cable rows
45x10

1 arm DB OHP
25x10x2

Offset farmer's walks
60lbs x 50'

Ball rollouts
10 reps x 2 sets

Cable chop
Lowest weight x 10 x 2

Standing PNF D2 flexion
?? weight x 10

The inside of my right knee is actually worse today than it has been in the last week. Hmmm, very weird as I didn't really do much that seems like it would put stress on my knees. Cha and I do think tight hip flexors are potentially contributing to it though or my left leg issue potentially. My left leg (in the area that gives out if I run too far) is quite tight/tingly today if stretching it.

Not really sure what to do about my right knee. Was thinking of icing it and making sure to roll that leg & hip flexors really well today. I really don't want to skip pickup bball tomorrow. But, I want this to get better and so far it really hasn't.

do that imo^ every day until there is no pain when you do it.

Try to get the ball up into your hip area too.

10/24 log

Played at the organized pickup game I play in every week. The inside of my right knee is still sore so I toyed with the idea of not going. But then I went anyway.

I did ~20mins of SMR work on my quad/hip flexor area and then some other stretching b4 playing. And then realized after my first 2 warmup shots that my triceps were junk and so I did SMR manually at the court, pressing into the spots that hurt and moving my arm at the elbow. Helped a ton and I didn't hurt my elbow tendons or anything while playing.

I ended up playing 4 games in a row to start and was very blown by the end so just left at that point (after ~1 hour of playing). I felt very little soreness in my right knee, but my left one for sure got bruised and was throbbing a bit. So I forced myself to be a wuss and not keep pressing during more games.

I went 4-0 so my record is now 13-2 in three sessions.

Game recaps from what I can remember:

Game 1
The 1st game is played to 11 points (not 8) and I remember having 1 point and literally 4 or 5 assists on our first 7 points. One of our guys really has good scoring moves and they didn't have anyone who could guard him man very well so I kept getting it to him. This game wasn't too close even though we had a really big guy on our team (and the main reason I lost a game last session) who simply can't guard anyone for sure on the perimeter or even in the post b/c he's so big. I mean like 300lbs big or something and not G4S big. Even little guys (all of us I guess) score on him in the post b/c he can't react to their moves fast enough.

Game 2
I think this game was closer than the first but we still won without tons of trouble. I think I scored a couple of times. This I believe is the game where I set a screen on someone running down full court (he was taller and outweighed me) and I just got completely creamed b/c he didn't see me. I didn't call a foul b/c I mean it doesn't really do anything and our guy was able to get a great look at the basket b/c of the screen. But I may need to rethink when to set screens against big guys running full speed.

Game 3
I shot to make it back in (so did the good scorer from my previous team) so it was kind of like our same team (maybe slightly better b/c we didn't have that really big guy, but we had a different guy who is athletic and moves well but kind of does stupid stuff a lot).

We won this game fairly easily too, I think I helped us get out to a big start at the beginning - especially shutting down one of their shooters. He was the guy on my team who hit every shot last session when he was on my team. But I think he only got 1 shot off vs. me and missed it. I didn't even let him take 3s b/c he's just that good of a shooter.

Game 4
This game was much closer and their other shooter got some open looks - I still stayed at home and didn't let the main shooter get any looks. I think I had a nice O-board and put back at some point and a couple scores. At one point I think I missed a completely wide-open fast break layup (I was almost tripping over myself b/c the lead pass was so low to the ground I could barely dribble it) - but oh well, it happens I guess.

The score got quite close near the end - we may have even been down like 5-4 at some point so I really played harder on both ends and made sure we got good looks to our scorer guy. This allowed me to get the putback b/c they kept collapsing and trying to jam him up. Thankfully he knows how to repost/highpost after passing it to me so I was still able to get it to him.

Just gotta put a little shoulder into it. NBA quality imo

Lol. If I started setting screens like that I'm sure it would go over well in a friendly pickup game .

I might think about setting a screen like that in our Rec league but I'd be worried about retaliation from the other team. Plus, I'm not good at intentionally making plays against the rules (like hooking, pushing, etc.). And 'm still only ~175lbs so pretty sure if I laid someone out like that I'd be in for a rough time to say the least.

Seems like almost every time I play pickup with randoms there is some swearing/yelling or a pushing match. (I'm almost never involved, obv) I find this hilarious every time. Pickup basketball bro...chill.

The one exception is hard fouls on fast breaks cuz that can seriously mess you up. I've never punched anyone, but I wouldn't hesitate if someone did that and I knew it was malicious.

10/25 log

SMR, mobility

My knee still is sore around where the LCL is, although again, not sure what the deal is. It's not worse today after weights yesterday, but not better. After SMR it is for sure somewhat better but hard to gauge what I'm hitting helps the most.

Box Squats
45x8x2 (decided to up my reps to help get used to box squat form and get it a bit lower - 4 "steps" instead of 5)
85x5
110x3
135x2
170x5x3 (PR) - This was my best work set form in quite a while. There was no big knee cave (some "smooth" wobble on a couple reps on my last set), and I was folding on my 2nd set but on my 3rd my g/f said I kept my back at the same angle the whole time.

I really WIMmed hard on my 3rd set and felt pumped....so pumped that this happened:

OHP
45x8x3
65x3
75x2
85x1
95x5x3 WR - Got all the reps. The left side of my neck is sore/hurts now potentially due to awesome WIM, but I'm very pumped given the fact I failed 95 (didn't even get close) 3 times in a row, reset to 92.5, had to try it twice to get 5x3, and now on my first try back at 95 I got all reps.

I finally feel I've found a "decent enough" setup I'm at least comfortable with and just really get angry and attack the bar at the beginning of each set. Before I knew it, I was done with 4 reps before it got "hard". I am a monster.

Now off to the chiro to hopefully diagnose my knee, loosen up my right ankle (never gotten fully better since last bball season), and do as much for my neck as possible. Oh yeah, and if my left leg could ever stop pinching nerves when I do the wall stretch or whatever, that'd be nice too.

I used to get really really fired up playing basketball (DIII low-level intramurals in college). My teammates would literally have to pull me away from refs/players/everyone. Not b/c I would go and pummel people but because I would just play more and more physically in fairly "casual" games. I once collided with a girl and her head was bleeding and I argued vehemently with the ref b/c he called the foul on me (I had position on the ball imo, probably a no-call tbh). The next day though I did go talk with her an make sure she was okay, apologized, etc. But during the game my team subbed me out simply b/c I was going to start crashing into anything that moved as hard as I could while staring down the refs (my go-to fired up strategy, lol).

Come to think of it, maybe getting a bit of that fire back would really help me. I'm such a wuss on the court now.

congrats on the wr!

Thanks! Although I couldn't tilt my head left almost at all or swivel it to the right much this morning.

Dr. K helped out with that a bunch just now, said my knee seemed fine and to feel free to do strengthening things for my knee cave but not allow any knee cave on squats or anything else.

I also learned that the place I was calling my "hip flexors" was the top of my rectus femoris. And he said the reason my issues seem to get better then worse is b/c I'm putting my body under a lot of strain and it's normal. He can tell things are progressing well.

This has a couple pictures that shows that area well. I dont know about the rest of the content in this link: http://www.sports-injury-info.com/hi...or-injury.html

The hip flexors are made up of three different muscles. The Rectus Femoris, Psoas Major, and Illiacus. These muscles work together to help flex the hip, and to provide stability for the lower extremity.

Yeah, I thought I was hitting the bottom of the Psoas Major and Illiacus but, I'm not of course.

I feel thanks mainly to you I have a really good strategic grasp of what may be going on with my muscles and my approach, but tactically I often don't describe things very well, get terms wrong, or don't find unmined areas as quickly as I'd like.

But w/e, I'm obviously further along in SMR than most people ever will be. Things you told me very early on make sense to me now and I'm starting to create my own SMR/ARTy type things when I want to get into a new area or hit something from a new angle.

This sounds almost exactly like what happened to me about a month ago. I did a press workout and finished off with some pullups. Felt a little twinge on the pullups, but didn't think anything of it. Neck was pretty sore when I woke up the next morning.

That night, I played some basketball. Started warming up and went up for a layup and heard a huge CRACK in my neck when I jumped. The next morning I could barely move my neck sideways. It was messed up for about a week, and probably would have been even longer if I wasn't diligent with the lacrosse ball on my scapula area/pecs.

So uh, you might not want to hear this, but I'd be pretty careful with it if you are planning on playing on ball in the next few days.

He just had a very good chiropractor adjust it and do ART on it. I'm sure he's fine for whatever he wants to do.

DudeChad - This exact neck area has been an ongoing issue for me for like ~3 years, no matter what I'm doing. I'm sure there is some slightly higher risk of a worse injury given the fact that my neck is kind of still crap, but it's been getting much better since SMR + ART. But obviously it's not 100% yet.

I've never heard a "CRACK" but I can crack it the way you can crack a joint pretty easily (I can crack all my joints pretty easily - loose ligaments imo).

Feels alot better today when I woke up than yesterday. I can swivel fine (although to the right at the end of my swivel it pulls a bit on the spot that "hurts") and while it's a bit stiff, it's less stiff than it normally was day-to-day before the last few months of SMR/ART.

One thing I do try to avoid is too many layup type drills in a row b/c I'm then craning my neck up at the basket. If I don't go out and shoot FTs or some other sort of shots when I'm shooting around, my neck does end up kinda stiff, lol.

fyi - when it cracks like that, that's a good thing. When the joints have the freedom to move well enough to crack, they're healthy. If they're stuck and hard to crack, that's not good.

10/26 log

Went to the gym just to do SMR instead of at home b/c I need to get a bunch more visits in for my insurance discount ($20) to kick in. Kind of dumb - I feel I'm spending more time on my body and playing basketball than I ever have, but since very little of it takes place at my gym, I don't get credit for visits.

- ~10 minutes roller SMR - thoracic stretching, lats, IT bands/quads, hammies/calves
- ~30 minutes lacrosse ball SMR on my right quads
- ~20 minutes lacrosse ball SMR on my left quads
- ~15 minutes lacrosse ball on my back

10-15 minutes bball post moves/shooting. I was kind of just messing around while my g/f finished her workout. I can't remember *ever* feeling as "springy" as I did yesterday. I mean, it's not necessarily like I felt I was jumping higher or anything necessarily, I just felt "springy" when even in HS I felt mobile but welded to the earth when playing sports. Have to think doing a full hour of SMR lacrosse ball work on my legs alone may have helped, .

Mr. Ygos, on the deadlift program...how did you pick your weights for the circuit stuff? I think I wanna start this madness to continue my journey to become the best exerciser #1.

That is a good question. I was at Cha's and he just sorta picked some at seemingly random for me. I've been increasing them each time by ~5 lbs, sometimes a bit more if it seems too easy. I didn't research the program as much as he did before doing it but I think the purpose is to do pretty easy/light accessory stuff so I'm not pushing on it much. I mean, power shrugs are calculated into the program based on % of your DL and they were really easy today. So easy I accidentally was doing more reps than I had written down.

But still, all that accessory stuff is in there for a reason (I just don't know the ins & outs of why it helps doing it that light) and this program seems like it's very successful.

I am still on easy weeks so we'll see if my back implodes or I bust a glute or something later on in the program, .